


Boku Dake No Love Song

by ununoriginal



Category: KAT-TUN (Band), Kanjani8 (Band), NewS (Band)
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2008-12-09
Updated: 2008-12-09
Packaged: 2017-12-15 09:30:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/847962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ununoriginal/pseuds/ununoriginal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shige has 2 weeks to help Ryo and his band get ready for their maiden act. Loosely based off the movie 《海角7号》. Ryo/Shige. AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Stop. Stop! STOP!” The discordant jamming and howling of the instruments suddenly cut off as Shige finally makes his voice heard over the incredible din – there's just no other word he can use to describe it.  
  
The young music producer feels the flush heating his cheeks and the tips of his ears with the blood rushing to his face when virtually everyone's eyes turn to him.  
  
“Nishikido-kun, can I talk to you for a moment?”  
  
Nishikido Ryo – the vocalist-cum-guitarist for the as-yet-unnamed last-minute band formed as the opening act of Shibutani Subaru & Flat Five Flowers' upcoming concert – looks up with apparent indifference, stops fiddling with the strings on his guitar and steps down from the low stage wordlessly.   
  
Shige waits until the doors to the soundproof rehearsal room have shut behind him. “What the fuck was that?!” he almost shouts, agitated enough for his control to slip, something that seems to be occurring with increasing frequency whenever he has to deal with the recalcitrant man leaning back against the wall, hands in his pockets.  
  
“What the fuck was what?” Ryo replies nonchalantly.  
  
Shige decides that glaring at Ryo is a futile act since he can't shoot any laser beams from his eyes that could possibly incinerate Ryo's brain or at the very least, melt that ridiculously sullen the-world-owes-me-big expression off his features. He turns around to take a deep breath but the memory of the disorganised jangling pretending and pathetically failing to pass off as music brings his ire up again. He spins back, pointing accusingly at the door.  
  
“That! I mean... god, where do I even start?” Shige is about ready to tear his hair out.  
  
“You are two weeks away from opening Flat Five Flowers' concert and this is your band,” Shige gestures despairingly at towards the room, “you and Ueda can't seem to go five minutes without sniping at one another and I have yet to hear your two guitars create anything remotely resembling a harmony. Stop trying to outdo each other!” Shige's pacing back and forth, not noticing how Ryo's eyes trail his figure intently. “No one can deny that Tegoshi is talented, but he just goes off on a riff whenever he likes – that self-centeredness of his is messing up things even further. This isn't his piano solo, he needs to coordinate with the rest of the band.”  
  
Ryo merely shrugs, which only riles Shige up all the more.  
  
“And the bass player who's supposed to replace Nakamaru-kun after he had his accident doesn't even seem to know that there are four strings on a bass guitar!” Shige steps back in a half-stumble to lean against the opposite wall, shoulders sagging. “Yokoyama-kun is a really nice guy, but it's obvious that he can't play that instrument to save his life. At least Nakamaru-kun could get a basic rhythm going.” Shige shakes his head tiredly.  
  
Ryo keeps quiet. There is just no adequate euphemism for Yoko blackmailing his way into the band, threatening to shout out from the rooftops Ryo's inexplicable crush on their music producer – the very same one currently spitting fire in front of him (and still being extremely attractive while doing so) – unless Yoko got a chance to be onstage as well.  
  
“And you.”   
  
Shige interrupts Ryo's thoughts and the vocalist glances up to see Shige gazing back at him, disappointment written across his face. Ryo's hands fist themselves in his pockets at the unexpected clenching of his heart.  
  
“You were supposed to have two songs ready for when Subaru-kun gets here, but so far I've only heard one song, which is something you wrote ages ago, and it's not even being performed very well.” Shige pauses for a moment, brow furrowed. “Actually, I don't even recall it being played from beginning to end.”  
  
Shige stares at Ryo, who's now looking anywhere but at him. “You haven't even written the second song, have you?” The words leave Shige's mouth slowly, like he's trying to stop himself, because once they're said, then they would have to be true.  
  
He comes over to stand next to Ryo. “Nishikido-kun, are you serious about this or not?”   
  
Ryo tenses at Shige's proximity, making himself refrain from inhaling too deeply the musky scent of Shige's cologne. At this distance, Shige's eyes seem larger than normal, and Ryo wants to reach out and ease away the wrinkles marring the smoothness of the skin of Shige's forehead. He also wants for these sappy thoughts to be replaced by something more constructive so he can use them in a proper conversation and thus appear more motivated and competent.  
  
“A couple of years ago, I heard someone singing in this tiny bar in Osaka. The backing band wasn't great, and the singer's voice control could have been better, but there was no denying his passion. It infected everyone in the room, I couldn't look away.” Shige's gazing at nothing, lost in his recollection, and Ryo can't look away from Shige's face, illuminated by his nostalgia.  
  
But Shige's expression dims. “Where's that passion now, Nishikido-kun?”  
  
The space between them is thick with Shige's frustration and Ryo's obstinate silence.  
  
In the end, Shige sighs softly. “I'm sorry, maybe I'm just not the right person to help you.”  
  
And Shige is gone before Ryo has time to catch his arm, to stop him and tell him 'no'.  
  
Ryo sinks to the floor, running his hands through his hair as he lets out an explosive breath.  
  
The door to the rehearsal room creaks open and Yoko peeks his head out. Seeing that the coast is clear, he crouches down next to Ryo, patting his shoulder consolingly.  
  
“You do know you are a big part of the problem, don't you?” Ryo points out irritably.  
  
Yoko has the grace to look at least a little embarrassed, although it doesn't help improve Ryo's mood much.  
  
“That went well.”  
  
“Shut up, donkey-face.” Ryo glares up at Ueda's arrogant smirking face.  
  
“You should just jump him, get it out of your system, and spare the rest of us from your repressed gay angst,” Ueda continues as if Ryo has never spoken.  
  
As usual, Ryo can't think of a decent comeback and resorts to sticking out a leg to kick Ueda instead.


	2. Chapter 2

“So is he still trying to get into your pants?” Uchi's voice, sounding even more campy than it does in real life, is the first thing that greets Shige's ear after he dials Hina's mobile and waits while nervously thinking up and discarding a hundred euphemisms to _'I didn't know what the hell I was thinking and can I come home now please'_.  
  
“What? _No!_ \--” Shige automatically denies with vehemence before he breaks away to glance at the screen of his own phone. “Hey! What are you doing with Hina's phone?”  
  
“Ooh, wouldn't _you_ like to know the things I could do to Hina's phone, baby.” Shige can practically hearing the sex rolling off Uchi's tongue in sultry waves, and begins to remember why he jumped at the offer to scout and produce a virtually unknown band in this little town, far far away from Osaka.  
  
“For the 117th time, no, I wouldn't like and can you get Hina on the phone please.” Years of working with Uchi, the other main attraction signed under Mugendai Records, has taught Shige that the only way to stop the singer's antics is to ignore it. Totally.  
  
“Don't try to dodge the question, gorilla! Is he still trying to hump your ass?!” Shige's also learnt that, sometimes, Uchi is very much like the Shinkansen – there is just no way to stop him or steer him off his intended path.  
  
“No, of course not!”  
  
“Ah, am I sensing a little disappointment in your tone, Shigeaki?” Uchi counters archly.  
  
“Disappoint-- no, no, and once again, _no_! Stop making such baseless claims about the both of us, Uchi,” Shige flushes even as he defends himself, “you know there's nothing going on between us.”  
  
“Hah! I know I have these two things at the front of my head called eyes, and guess what, they have this ability known as perfect vision, which tells me that the creep has been having the hots for you since day one,” Uchi retorts.  
  
Despite himself, Shige breaks into a smile – he's always had a soft spot for Uchi's melodramatics. “I wish you wouldn't keep saying that. Nishikido-kun does have an attitude problem, and seems like he missed out on Speech 101 in pre-school, but he's never ever said or done anything inappropriately towards me.”  
  
Uchi scoffs. “All that merely indicates he has to grow a pair, the fucking coward.”  
  
Shige is torn between laughing out loud and wanting to chuck the phone away when he hears a scuffle over the line and then Hina's Kansai-ben is blasting at him. “Sorry about that, Shige. Our little princess here is just still sore that you would drop him to go all the way to Toyooka. He needs to set aside petty differences and stop the one-upmanship with Ryo.”  
  
“That is a _fucking_ lie!” Uchi's outrage is evident in the background. “I'm _firing_ you, Hina. You're no longer my manager, we are _so_ done!”  
  
Even Uchi's histrionics doesn't stop the anxious flutter in the pit of Shige's stomach. “Yes, about that...” He swallows nervously and prepares to launch into his opening statement.  
  
“I've said it before, but thanks, Shige. It's so good of you to have volunteered to travel up there since everyone else is so tied up here with preparations for Fula's concerts at the other venues,” Hina rambles on obliviously. “I know it's short notice, but Subaru's always been so keen to go back to the place where he met Yasu, and it makes for good publicity, both for the band and the town itself, doesn't it?”  
  
“Oh... yeah, it does.” Shige realises this is why he didn't get into law school.  
  
“How's the band doing?” Hina continues. “I hope they haven't been giving you too much trouble. Just tsukkomi them if they irritate you too much, especially that idiot cousin of mine – I still can't believe he's in the band, the only bearable sound he was capable of making when we were growing up was the sound of his voice.”  
  
“...Your cousin is in Nishikido's band?” Shige suddenly has a bad feeling about this.  
  
“Yes, the bass player, Yoko? He was so excited at getting in that he called me and near talked my ear off!” Hina's tone is disparaging but Shige can still feel his affection for the other man.  
  
“Oh, him,” Shige says faintly, seeing his hopes of kicking Yoko out of the band dwindling to none.  
  
“So how's everyone coming along?” Hina asks expectantly.  
  
“Well, there is still work to be done,” Shige answers slowly, fleshing out his sentences as he goes along. “But the band members are pretty talented,” _at bickering_ , “and enthusiastic” _at playing individual parts INDIVIDUALLY_.  
  
“Great! I'll leave you to it then-- yes?” Shige can tell that Hina's attention has been called elsewhere and the phone gets snatched back by Uchi.  
  
“They're totally kicking your ass, aren't they?”  
  
“No, they're not!” Shige can't stop his reflexive response to Uchi's snark.  
  
“Can it, Shige. I can tell – you wouldn't be calling back like this otherwise.” Uchi's voice takes on a sympathetic tone. “Is Ryo bullying you again?”  
  
“Look, he's never-- not really--” Shige just gives up and sighs. “Uchi, maybe I'm not the best person to help him. I don't seem to be able to motivate him. There doesn't seem to be a way for me to do it right.”  
  
“Nonsense! Of course it has to be you,” Uchi exclaims. “You didn't give up working with the best act this side of Japan, i.e. yours truly, to go and be some failure at some stupid little beach, so stop moping and get on with it!”  
  
Chuckling half-heartedly, Shige squeezes the phone in his hand tighter. “You always know what to say, don't you?”  
  
“Of course, that's why you love me~”   
  
Shige can practically see the sparkly hearts at the end of the sentence, and he laughs, feeling the warmth spread through his own chest. “Thanks, Uchi.” He pushes back from the railing of the balcony of his hotel room that overlooks the seaside while staring out at the sky turning twilight over waves tinted deep purple. The salty evening breeze is turning chill, and he shivers.  
  
“So how goes the other thing?” Uchi asks after they share a comfortable moment of silence.   
  
“Oh, that?” Shige frowns a bit as he turns his back on the sea and enters his room, sliding the glass door leading to the balcony shut. “It's hitting a brick wall as well. It seems like the address that Kei-jii-chan used on his letters were from before the war. The road names were changed more than twenty years ago, and then a few years back, Takeno merged with the rest of the city and now even the postal codes are different.”   
  
“Shit, that kind of sucks.”  
  
“Yeah, tell me something I don't already know.” Shige sighs again, even louder than before.  
  
“Poor goringo, if I were there, I'd give you a hug,” Uchi says consolingly. “Oh, _damn_ , I have to go now,” there's a flurry of movement and Shige hears the background noise volume suddenly increase as Uchi is joined by some other people. “I'll talk to you again, and Shige, if you really _really_ think you've had enough, just say it and I'll help you get back, even if I have to brave all that sand myself to come get you.”   
  
They're both grinning as they get off the phone.  
  
Shige picks up one of the envelopes stacked neatly upon his bedside table and flops back on the bed, raising the stiff packet of paper to read the characters formed by the flowing brush strokes.   
  
In his mind's eye, he sees the silver-haired elderly gentleman with his ever-ready, friendly smile, waving at him from over the low wall separating their homes. Keiichirou-jii-chan, a retired teacher with no wife and children of his own, was always more than happy to chat with Shige and answer the inquisitive questions the precocious child Shige had been wanted to ask about the world. When Kei-jii-chan had passed on, Shige had found the beautiful black-lacquered box and the creamy beige envelopes it contained amongst his personal effects.  
  
All those letters, never sent. All those words, left unsaid.  
  
 _Tomo-chan, where on earth could you possibly be?_  
  
Shige turns on his left and curls up, pushing the letter away from where he's lying on the mattress, staring at the obsolete directions on it until they become nothing but black blurry squiggles and he eventually drifts off to sleep.


End file.
